Betsy Reid, who has worked with Hugh Crawford for years to bring Jamie Livingston’s Photo-of-the Day project to the web has been reading the comments on Meta Filter, Mental Floss and elsewhere. She enjoyed on comment on Metafilter by someone named krippledkonscious.
"I had to think a little bit about why this is so stirring. This is not a technical achievement, nor an endeavor that requires an inaccessible skill set. This is one thing, done once a day. Something so spare and ordinary, just taken to extraordinary lengths. A simple thing: whatever struck his fancy on a given day – just capture one thing on film. Simple.
"I know a lot of people try to do this on Flickr, but this is strikingly different in many respects. This isn’t a collection of forced poses or composed shots or juxtapositions, he isn’t looking for something funny, weird, or ironic. I find myself thinking I should try this, but give up within days because I’d try to wait until something interesting happened. That’s me not appreciating the ordinary, or trying to force it, and not having the discipline to just do something on principle. These photos are as simple as memories. They don’t always make sense, they don’t always fit into some grand theme or design. Here is a memory. Here is another. All you need to know is: this was then, on this date. This happened, I was there. Do you remember?
"Nothing seems framed here. You don’t feel as if he is trying to sell you anything about himself. I like to think that the people in his life probably questioned this hobby or wondered what purpose it could ever serve – especially in those days before such a scheme could bring you internet glory. There was no market for this kind of thing. Who would care? Why keep at it? No one will see it. That camera isn’t even portable. The resolution is terrible. Why bother?
"I think we react to this because it is so rare. A refreshingly simple thing, devoid of polish or fanfare, suddenly set in front of us by chance. It doesn’t ask anything of you. You take what you will.
Photo above is one wall of Jamie’s photos from the exhibition organized by Friends of Livingston at Bard College October 2007 taken Tom Boettcher: Osbeefeel2001
Just looking at Jamie’s photos. How strange to recognize so many of those faces in the photos from 1979 Bard, but never to have actually know them. Faces that are so familar and so unknown. Really heartbreaking in some way. The distant world of 1979. Hope there are more to add from that unknown universe that was the present. Jill
I love betsy comment about the fact we could have questionned at the time why he would bother to do this where there was nothing in it for him.
And I think it is why it makes this project even more special, as well as the dedication of his 2 friends!
Cheers,
B.
please, please keep up posted when the site goes back up. this is too compelling, I want to see more….also your blog is having a ripple effect on imdb as well…
Hi,
I’ve been reading your posts regarding Jamie Livingston and I saw that you mentioned his article was misspelled on Wikipedia. I’ve fixed that issue and the new page (which is identical to the original) is at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Livingston. The original page is now just a redirect to the new page. This should be permanent, assuming my edits don’t get reverted by someone else. I will keep an eye on it. Let me know if I can do anything else.
I haven’t had an opportunity to view the POD site yet (it was down by the time I found it) but I did read the mentalfloss article and I think you’ve done a really great thing by creating this site to document this man’s pictures. I would love to mirror the site for you if you’d like, just let me know.
-Justin